The views contained here may not represent the views of 24hGold, its affiliates or advertisers.

24hGold.com makes no representation, warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy or completeness of the information (including, editorials, news, prices, statistics, analyses) provided through its service. In no event shall 24hgold.com, its affiliates or advertisers be liable to any person for any decision made or action taken in reliance upon the information provided herein.

Any copying, reproduction and/or redistribution of any of the documents, data, content or materials contained on or within this website, without the express written consent of 24hGold.com, is strictly prohibited.

There
are nowtwogreat nations in the world, whichstartingfromdifferent points, seem to beadvancingtoward the same goal: the Russians and the Anglo-Americans...
Eachseemscalled by some secret design of
Providence one day to hold
in its hands the destinies
of half the world.

Democracy
in America,
Alexis de Toqueville, 1835

De Toqueville’samazingpredictionin 1835 about the destinies of Russia andthe Anglo-Americanswasevery bit the equal to those made by hisillustrious French predecessor, Michel de Nostradame.

In the 1830s, Russiawasaczarist empire and the US hadfoughtitswar of independencefromEnglandonly 60 yearsbefore. The idea of Russia andthe Anglo-Americans ..startingfromdifferent points advancingtoward the same goal..called by some
secret design of Providence..to[each]hold ..
the destinies of half the
world was an extraordinaryprediction, especiallyin 1835.

Nonetheless, 110 yearslater, just as de Toquevillepredicted, Russia andthe Anglo-Americanseachadvancingtowards the same goal wouldbecomeenemies in whatwouldbecomeknown as the
Cold War, an extraordinarilycostlydecades-long battle for economichegemony and world dominion in the second half of the 20thcentury.

In 1835, deToquevillecalled the twogreat nations, Russia andtheAnglo-Americans. DeToquevilleknew full well the differencebetweenEngland and America. Nonetheless, de Toqueville made no mistakewhenhedescribed
the future Anglo-American
alliance as one nation.

It was a prescient prediction of a
coming, close relationshipbetweenEngland and the
US, a relationshipthatwouldextend British geopolitical influence but wouldbankruptAmerica in the process and costitits once greatheritage as a beacon of freedom and liberty in the world.

EMPIRE, EMPIRE
AND MORE EMPIRE

When de Toqueville
made hispredictionin 1835, bothRussia and Englandwerealready empires. By the 18thcentury,the Tsardom
of Russiahadbecome the hugeRussian Empire, stretching from
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eastward to the Pacific Ocean.

The British
empire, however, wouldbecome far larger and ultimatelycoveralmosta quarter of the world’s land area. By 1922 itwasestimatedthatEnglandruled 20% of the world’s
population and was the largest
empire in history.

The US, unlikeRussia and England, had no interest in empire. Indeed, the
democraticideals of Americawereantitheticallyopposed to the
imposition of power over others, let alone nations.

I have never
been able to conceive how any
rational beingcould
propose happiness to himselffrom the exercise of
power over others.

Thomas
Jefferson

America’s participation in the Anglo-Americanpursuit
of empire one centurylaterwould have catastrophicresults for America. Cutloosefromits moral anchor as a beacon of freedom, Americawould gain wealth and power but wouldloseits soul in the process; and, in the end, Americawouldalsolosemuch of itswealth and power as well.

Although, in the end, Americawoulddenyitsdemocraticpast to pursue the fruits of
empire, itwould not
escape the costs, bothfinancial and moral, in sodoing:

Everyambitiouswould-be empire
clarionsitabroadthatsheisconquering the world
to bringitpeace, security and freedom, and issacrificingher sons only for the most noble and humanitarianpurposes.

That
is a lie, and itis an ancient
lie, yetgenerationsstillrise and believeit! If Americaeverdoesseek Empire, and most nations do, thenplannedreforms in ourdomestic life willbeabandoned,
States Rightswillbeabolished in order to impose acentralizedgovernmentupon us for the purpose of internalrepudiation of freedom, and adventuresabroad.

The
American Dreamwillthen die—on battlefields
all over the world—and a nation conceived in liberty will
destroy liberty for Americans and impose tyranny on subject nations.

George S. Boutwell,
(1818-1905),Secretary of the TreasuryunderPresidentUlysses S. Grant, Governor of
Massachusetts, Senator and Representativefrom Massachusetts.

THE
ANGLO-AMERICA ALLIANCE

In 1945, at the
beginning of whatisnowknown
as the Cold War, England
and Americahadbecome far more alikethanAmerica’sfoundingfatherscould have foreseen; the
central bankbeing the mostegregiousexample.

Of all the
English institutions thatFoundingFather Thomas Jefferson opposed,
itwas the central bank. Designed by bankers to transfer the profits
of societalproductivity,
commerce and ingenuity to bankers
and financiers via the mechanism of debt, the central bankwasat the center of British
power and wealth.

England’s central bankallowedEngland to wagewar on credit,
an advantage not shared
by others; and as along
as England’sarmies
and navieswerevictorious, the bankers’ debtswererepaid,
theirwealthincreased and England’s
empire expanded.

England’s central bankallowedEngland to literallycreate money out of thin air. This monetaryalchemywas possible as long as
England (1) maintained
confidence in paper money, (2) maintained
the balance betweencredit
and debt, and (3) keptitseconomyexpanding.

In central bankdebt-basedeconomies, economicactivityneeds to expand or debtwilloverwhelm productive capacity; and when the growth of England’s
empire began to slow in the late
1800s, England’sbankersrealizedtheywouldsoonneedanother base fromwhich to continue theirfinancial franchise.

Americawasideal for England’spurposes; and despiteJefferson’snumerous
warnings about central banks, in
1913 a consortium of privateEuropeanbankers, US financiers and industrialistsestablished the Federal
Reserve Bank in the US, modeledafterEngland’s central bank,
the very institution that
Thomas Jefferson sostronglyopposed.

It was the establishment of the Federal
Reserve Bank in AmericathatallowedEngland to regain
control of itsformercolony, the United States. Establishing
a central bankwas the
first and onlystepnecessary; for with a central bankestablished in America, privatebankerswouldhenceforth control America’s
money supply and, ultimately,
itspolitical future.

Give
me control of a nation’s money and I care not
whomakes the laws.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812)

RUSSIA, THE
ANGLO-AMERICANS AND THE COLD WAR

In the 20thcentury, as England’simperial power weakened, England’s grip on the US grewtighter; and by 1945, the US was
more thaneager to betrayitsdemocraticheritage in order to joinEngland in the pursuit of world power.

After WWII, what Alexis
de Toquevillehadpredictedin 1835 came true. Russia and the Anglo-Americanswouldcompete for world dominion in whatwouldbecomeknown as the Cold War.

The Cold Warlastedfrom
1945 to 1990 when the USSR collapsed.
It wouldappear the Anglo-Americans won and Russialost. But, in truth, bothsideslost;
for the five-decadereign
of Anglo-American dominance wouldcost the England and Americatheirfoundation of economichegemony, i.e. the ability of theirdebt-basedeconomies to expandad infinitum.

The pursuit of global dominion wouldalsocostAmericaitsvast
gold reserves, once the largestmonetaryreserves in history. Maintaining a world-widemilitary force forced the US to end the gold-convertibility
of the US dollar in 1971; and the removal of gold from the world monetary system allowedcredit and monetaryaggregates to growatheretoforeunprecedented rates.

The unrestrainedgrowth of money
and creditafter 1971 led to the sequentialgrowth and collapse of the threelargestspeculativebubbles in history: (1) the Japanese Nikkei in 1990, (2)
the US dot.com bubblein
2000, and (3) the 25-year global creditbubblein 2008.

The subsequentinability of the Anglo-Americans to revive the credit
and debt machine thathadinitiallyallowedit to achievesuzerainty over the
East has nowleveled the playingfieldbetween the East and the West; and, in this new playingfield, the East and West are pursuingradicallydifferentstrategies.

Withitseconomicfoundationthreatened as neverbefore, the West isdoingeverything in itsconsiderable power to strengthenitsnowfalteringeconomicfoundation; and, gold,
once viewed as necessary
to maintain the stability
of itspaper money, isnowviewed
by Western bankers as a threat.

As confidence
in the West’s confidence game
of credit and debtwanes, investors are increasinglyseeking the safety of gold. They have doneso in everymonetary and financialcrisis in history and itis no lesstruetoday.

However, transferringwealthfrompaperassets, e.g. stocks and bonds, to gold threatens
the leveragedasset base sonecessary to the credit and debtponzi-schemethat comprises the
foundation of modern economies,
i.e. debt-basedcapitalism.

It isperhapsappropriatethat the two former communistantagonists to capitalist expansion, China and Russia,
are nowplaying the exact
opposite hand. As the latestiteration
of ‘greatgame’
isbeingplayed out on the geopolitical
stage, China and Russia are going
for the gold.

THE EAST GOES
FOR THE GOLD

Since 2007, Russia
has more thandoubledits official gold reserves, the
largestincrease in reservesworldwide; and everymonthRussiabuys about a half a
billion dollars more. In 2012, China replacedIndia as the world’s top importer of gold and for the past five years China has led the world in gold mining
production.

No gold mined in either China or Russiaissold
on the open market. All gold mined
in China and Russiastays
in that country. Clearly,
the East has adifferentstrategythan the West and gold
is a critical part of thatstrategy.

The West, however, isprimarilyconcernedwithprotecting the economic system,
i.e. capitalism, whichallowedit to conquer and exploit much of the
world for almostthreehundredyears. Suchleverageisrarely come by and the factthatitmaybeending has onlyredoubled Western efforts to saveit.

The East has a
much more sanguine outlook
on the possible demise of capitalism.
Capitalismisseen as a Western contrivance. Whatever replaces itwillmostlikelyinvolve gold and they’regettingready.

In college, I majored in political science with a focus on East Asia (B.A. University of California at Davis, 1966). My in-depth study of economics did not occur until much later. In the 1990s, I became curious about the Great Depression and in the course of my study, I realized that most of my preconceptions about money and the economy were just that - preconceptions. I, like most others, did not really understand the nature of money and the economy. Now, I have some insights and answers about these critical matters. We are in the midst of a paradigm shift of extraordinary proportions. Financial markets will be stressed as well as other institutions. My writings deal with this challenge and our response to what is to come.